Roxy Music – Rod Laver Arena

I guess there are two types of Roxy Music fans. There are those who know singles like Same Old Scene, More Than This and Avalon; songs that, although impressive in their construction and performance, are essentially stylish fodder for commercial pop radio and which probably still feature on many ‘gold’ format radio stations. It’s not to say that they aren’t very good songs, because they are, but there’s no doubt that they are far more accessible to the mainstream than much of the bands earlier work.

The second group of fans know that earlier work and in many cases know it in an encyclopedic fashion. These are the fans for whom Roxy Music are a band that merges art with rock and who are an English equivalent of, say, the Velvet Underground, in terms of their artistic credibility and influence. The bands self-titled first album was recorded in 1972, and at the time was seen as a wildly experimental, avant garde statement of intent.

Perhaps there is also a third group of fans – those who think that Bryan Ferry is the only important member of this band and who came along wondering what else he would play other than Lets Stick Together. This group may have been represented by the bloke in the urinal after the show loudly bemoaning the absence of The Price of Love from the setlist.

On this tour, the happiest subset of fans will have been the second group. This is clearly how it should be. After all, this line-up, with one notable exception, was the band that created that debut album and its successors For Your Pleasure, Stranded, Country Life, Siren and Manifesto. Drummer Paul Thompson departed prior to the Flesh & Blood and Avalon albums that were the ones that contained the most prominent of the hit singles.

So…given that this tour was intended to be a real and meaningful retrospective of the music of Roxy Music there was always going to be some songs that left portions of the audience a little bewildered.

The set opened with The Main Thing (from Avalon), allowing the audience to take in the spectacle, which included a full backdrop video screen that would later feature some excellent vision that really enhanced many of the songs, and two interpretive go-go dancers who couldn’t be faulted in terms of either aesthetic or technical prowess.

The songlist then took a loose stroll through the catalogue with no particular theme in mind. Ferry was in fine voice, particularly on the more atmospheric songs like the still-chilling In Every Dream Home A Heartache, while guitarist Phil Manzanera frequently contributed parts that remind you that he’s a seriously great player who probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.

Paul Thompson received support from a percussionist although that hardly seemed necessary while saxophonist Andy Mackay also had a sidekick sharing his duties, although his featured parts were perfectly blended and tasteful.

This was an outstanding musical concert that reflected the bands history very well. They seemed comfortable with the more brazen tracks like Street Life, the glam sounding Prairie Rose (supported by a great Texan video montage), Editions Of You and the show-stopper Do The Strand. A surprising inclusion was a cover of Like A Hurricane that had appeared on the 1990 Heart Still Beating compilation.

The other surprise was the Ferry solo hit Let’s Stick Together – perhaps performed as a concession to the less deeply connected fans. Along with Love Is The Drug this was the song that got the biggest crowd reaction, a situation that perhaps reflects reality, but not necessarily the most heartening situation for the band.

While this concert was immensely satisfying for serious fans of the band, one can only speculate how good it would have been in a more suitable venue. Rod Laver Arena works well for many shows but this show required something more intimate and, well, ornate. I’m sure the economics don’t work but I can only imagine how good this would be in the classic surrounds of the Palais or even (in a fantasy world) at a room like The Forum.

As it was Roxy Music walked away from this show with their reputation enhanced. Ferry’s effortless cool and Manzanera’s startling guitar playing were the obvious touchstones, but really the whole presentation was first rate.

Setlist

The Main Thing

Street Life

Pyjamarama

Prairie Rose

If There Is Something

More Than This

Jealous Guy

Like a Hurricane

2HB

In Every Dream Home A Heartache

Tara

Bitter-Sweet

Same Old Scene

My Only Love

Virginia Plain

Love Is The Drug

Editions Of You

Do The Strand

Avalon

Let’s Stick Together

For Your Pleasure

Roxy Music Tour!

It is with a great deal of arty excitement that we have learned that Roxy Music will be touring Australia in Feb/Mar 2011 with the original line-up of vocalist Bryan Ferry, guitarist Phil Manzanera, saxophonist Andy Mackay and the great Paul Thompson on drums.

Tickets go on sale from Wednesday 25th August.

Roxy Music will be supported by Australian rock’n’roll legends Mondo Rock.

Roxy Music will be performing material from their entire catalogue including such hits as Dance Away, Avalon, Let’s Stick Together, Take A Chance With Me, Do the Strand, Angel Eyes, Oh Yeah, In the Midnight Hour, Jealous Guy, Love Is The Drug, More Than This and many more.

In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Roxy Music on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.  Roxy Music are regarded as one of the most influential art-rock bands in music history. The group, formed by vocalist/keyboardist Bryan Ferry, enjoyed a successful run through the ’70s and early ’80s, crafting a sound that was completely their own.

Roxy Music first exploded on to the scene with their 1972 self-titled debut album. The progressive debut was the sound of a group challenging the constraints of pop music. The LP was lauded by critics and popular among fans, peaking at number 4 on the U.K album charts. From there, they recorded 1973′s For Your Pleasure at London’s legendary AIR Studios.

Some of their finest records of their career include Country Life (1974) and Siren (1975). After two years away, the group reformed in 1978 to release three more albums, Manifesto (1979), Flesh and Blood (1980) and Avalon (1982). It wasn’t long before the compilation album Street Life raced to No.1 in 1986 and stayed there for five weeks. Roxy Music disbanded while still at the top of their game.

Thirty years later, Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson re-formed the group and continue to play concerts all over the world reconfirming that the legacy had only appreciated with time. In 2005 Roxy Music played a stunning set at the Isle of Wight Festival, followed by festival dates throughout Europe.  In 2010 they will play their first gigs in five years before heading to Australia in 2011.

Wednesday February 23    Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Ticketek 132 849
Friday February 25    Sydney Entertainment Centre
Ticketmaster 136 100
Saturday February 26    Hope Estate, Hunter Valley
Ticketmaster 136 100
Tuesday March 01    Brisbane Riverstage
Ticketmaster 136 100
Thursday March 03    Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

Chris Spedding –

If you did a survey where music fans were asked to to name the most influential bands in the history of contemporary music, The Beatles, Cream, Roxy Music, the Velvet Underground, the Sex Pistols and The Who would be on a lot of people’s lists.

If you asked guitarist Chris Spedding to mention some of the artists with whom he has shared the studio or the stage he could reel of the names of members of each of those bands.

It’s fair to say Chris Spedding has had a remarkable and memorable career. An Englishman, Spedding has made his mark on both sides of the Atlantic, both as a much sought after guitar slinger and as a recording and touring artist in his own right

Spedding is about to tour Australia with another important artist – rockabilly icon Robert Gordon, in a band that also features ex Stray Cat Slim Jim Phantom and ex Sex Pistol Glen Matlock.

Hey Hey spoke to Chris Spedding on the eve of the tour.

HHMM : So where do we find you?

CS : I’m in Burgess Hill in England, which is near Brighton. I officially moved back in 2006, so this is my home now. I moved from California. I did spend 12 or 14 years in California and before that 12 or 14 years in New York so if that makes me nomadic, then I suppose I am.

HHMM : You are returning to Australia with Robert Gordon soon.  I think your last visit her was when you took part on the Leonard Cohen tribute shows at the Sydney Opera House in 2005. (Spedding led the band that played behind singers such as Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Beth Orton, Martha and Rufus Wainwright etc)

CS : I think I’ve been back since with The War of The Worlds. I think the last time Bryan Ferry went there I wasn’t able to come, but I was there with him in 2004.

HHMM : The Leonard Cohen tribute must have been an amazing experience.

CS : It was a different set of people that got together and there was a movie made of it which I only just got the other day. It’s called I’m Your Man and it’s a movie of hose performances with interviews with Leonard Cohen and various musicians. I’m glad there was a film record made of it.

HHMM : You mentioned Bryan Ferry. With both Robert Gordon and Bryan Ferry you have been able to work with people over very long periods and maintain those relationships. Is that a source of satisfaction?

CS : Yes. At least on and off. It’s probably because I’ve been around for a while and I’m glad I’ve been able to work consistently with people. If I’d been chopping and changing too much I might have run out of people!

HHMM : This band with Robert Gordon, Slim Jim Phantom and Glen Matlock is a really interesting band. How often have you been able to play together?

CS : Well, not as often as we’d like. Since we started out we’ve been going for about a year. We just did the northern United States, in a few casinos. We did Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, but we haven’t played in England yet. It is an interesting band. We do a few Stray Cats songs that Slim Jim sings and a couple of Sex Pistols songs that Glen sings and a couple of my songs and the  rest is Robert, so its quite an eclectic mix really.

HHMM : Are you surprised to see how Glen Matlock has evolved as a musician having worked with him on those early Sex Pistols demos?

CS : No, not really. It’s good to see him still working. He goes out and does solo things now with an acoustic, he does all sorts of stuff and plays with different bands and different people. He’s a good musician and a good songwriter.

HHMM : I guess he may have been under-rated due to the reputation of the Sex Pistols and the Malcolm McLaren gimmick element of it all.

CS : Malcolm McLaren was more interested in them being a flash in the pan pop group. He would have preferred them to be more like the Bay City rollers, rather than some serious musicians who had some staying power and who could write their own music which was what Glen was. I don’t think Malcolm was quite on the same page with the rest of them.

HHMM : Would you say the music you play with Robert Gordon is as “pure” as anything you have done across you career?

CS : I thought you were going to say ‘Is it pure rockabilly”, because I don’t think people would say that Chris Spedding is a rockabilly guitar player. Of course I have called upon that element when I have played with Robert. When I started out I used to listen to Scotty Moore  who played with Elvis. Of Course the first rock n’ roll I got interested in was the Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran style of stuff. We never called it rockabilly in those days though. When I met Robert and he said “I hope you can play rockabilly” I didn’t know what he was talking about.

HHMM : By “pure”  I guess I meant that its really close to the roots of rock n’ roll music.

CS : Oh yeah. He has a certain sort of thing that he likes. Sometimes he’ll come up with a song and I’ll think “Oh, I don’t know about that”, but when he sings it he’s so into what he does that he convinces you that the song is great. That’s really something actually. You cant understand why he has chosen a song but when you hear him do it, he does it with such conviction that you are totally sold on it. I’ve seen him do that with audiences. He puts the material over so convincingly and so authoritatively that people really go for it.

HHMM :  When you first started playing with Robert you effectively replaced Link Wray. Was that daunting to begin with?
CS : I didn’t really think much about it. I had decided to go and live in new York before I go the offer to go and play with Robert., so I just thought “oh good I’ve got a gig to go to I don’t have to look around for work”.  At the time Robert’s producer Richard Gotteher didn’t really want a replacement for Link, he wanted someone to push him in a more modern direction. So it wasn’t a question of me trying to step into somebody elses shows. As it turned out me and Link became good friends. Whenever he would come to town I’d go and see him and end up on stage with him.

HHMM : Given that you have lived and played for a long time in England and in New York and Los Angeles you are probably as well placed as anyone to comment on the differences and similarities between the British and American approach to rock n’ roll.

CS : It’s kind of “just music” but I’ve noticed the people view me quite differently in different places. I’m “that English guitar player” in America, instead of just a guitar player. They definitely haven’t gotten over the English Invasion of the 60’s in America and they probably think I’m part of that. I didn’t really think there was a English style of guitar playing or music playing until I went to America. There are a lot of really, really good musicians in America so there was a lot of competition, so in a way I guess it was fortunate that they saw me as having an English sound or an English approach because I couldn’t have competed with all the Americans if they thought I was one of them. I was more unique because I’d come from England so I guess it worked in my favour. But as a solo artist I never hit it off as well in America as I did in Britain. I’m still better known in Britain because my records were only ever released in America on import.

HHMM : Recording with people like Paul McCartney and Roger Daltry and John Cale and with your long association with Bryan Ferry – you’ve effectively worked with key members of  The Beatles, The Who, the Velvet Underground and Roxy Music. Do you ever stop and think that you have had a front row seat in a good part of the history of contemporary music?

CS : I’ve played with a lot of those guys without ever having been in their groups! And you can add Jack Bruce to that as well! When I played with Paul McCartney Ringo was on drums and George Martin was producing so it was almost like being in The Beatles! I could look around and fantasise that I was George Harrison!

HHMM : Does it give you an insight into why those bands where so important in the evolution of rock n’ roll?

CS : I don’t think I can give you an insight on that. You just do the work the best you can. Later on you find out if it was any good or not. You tend not to listen to it or dwell on it, you just go on to the next thing. I guess that’s what its like for those guys. They keep working if they can. They’re all very hard workers and very intense.

HHMM : Wandering around You Tube I stumbled across a couple of videos of you performing a song called Guitar Jamboree.  (This is a song where Spedding performs a medley of guitar rifs and signatures styles from the likes of Hendrix, Clapton, Beck etc etc – almost a one man guitar hero tribute band!).

CS : The song was from an album I did in 1976. It was based on a country song where this guy imitated all the country singers. So I adapted that song to the rock n’ roll and blues guys. Its one of the songs that I usually get asked to play all the time along with Motorbikin’. It’s been quite a popular song for me but I really don’t know why people like it so much. I’m just playing things that any guitar player learns in their first three months of playing. There’s nothing clever about it but by putting them all together in one song people seem to like it. It’s a bit of a cheap theatrical trick really!

HHMM : If somebody had to insert a few bars of Chris Spedding into Guitar Jamboree what would it have to be.

CS : Oh, I don’t know?  I’m not the one to choose that. I don’t know what people think of when they think of my style of playing. I’ve played so many different types of music. They would probably choose the solo from Motorbikin’ by I really don’t know.

HHMM : How would you describe your guitar style then – it is so diverse.

CS : Just because I’ve played with lots of different people doesn’t mean my style is that diverse. I can play the same lick with Rolf Harris as I play with John Cale and people will say ‘oh isn’t he versatile’, but its still exactly the same lick. It just sounds different because its in a different context. I do seem to have a knack for playing some thing that fits in and seems to sound go0od in context.

HHMM : You have played with so many people – but is there anyone live or dead that you haven’t played with that you wish you could have?

CS : I would have like to have played with Elvis. There are some other people I’d like to play with but they are still alive so I wont tempt fate by mentioning their names. But Elvis in his prime would have been great. I would have loved to have played original material in the studio with Elvis and come up with my own parts.

In addition to Byron Bay Robert Gordon and the Gang They Couldn’t Hang play two headlie shows

Friday April 02 : The Corner Hotel, Melbourne

Saturday April: The Metro, Sydney